102 more Boulder County property owners want to join paving district lawsuit

At issue is whether those who haven't paid full assessment will be eligible

By John FryarLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
12/31/2013 03:26:46 PM MST

Updated:
12/31/2013 03:59:44 PM MST

The eight rural Boulder County homeowners who have sued Boulder County's commissioners over the creation of a paving district that's assessing properties the costs of rehabilitating subdivisions' paved county roads are now seeking to add another 102 property owners to that lawsuit.

In a motion filed in Boulder District Court on Monday, the eight original plaintiffs are asking District Judge Andrew Hartman to permit the additional 102 property owners to join them in challenging the county's legal and constitutional authority to create the Subdivision Paving Local Improvement District and its imposition of assessments on the owners of nearly 10,900 properties in residential subdivisions throughout unincorporated Boulder County.

Chuck Wibby, one of the eight homeowners who initially filed the lawsuit on Nov. 20, said Tuesday that not all of the 102 new would-be plaintiffs were able to pay their full paving assessments by Dec. 23, a deadline county officials have said state law requires in order for anyone to preserve legal standing to challenge the county's LID actions.

On Tuesday afternoon, Wibby said he didn't know how many of the additional 102 property owners seeking to join the lawsuit had paid their full assessments -- LID charges that typically run into thousands of dollars per property -- and had therefore removed the liens Boulder County placed on the properties whose assessments haven't paid in full.

Nor do the plaintiff's motions filed on Monday provide a breakdown of how many of the prospective plaintiffs paid their total assessments and how many hadn't.

But Wibby said he and his seven other original co-plaintiffs -- who did pay their assessments by Dec. 23 -- are contesting the county's position that property owners who didn't pay wound up waiving their right to join the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs, meanwhile, are continuing to seek a preliminary injunction that asks the district court to remove the liens on properties that haven't paid their full assessments and to refund the payments that some property owners have made.

The injunction motion also asks that Boulder County be blocked from engaging in any of the subdivision road rehabilitation work that it's seeking to fund through the LID process. Wibby said the plaintiffs hope a hearing will be scheduled by the end of January on that injunction request.

Cindy Domenico, chairwoman of the Board of County Commissioners, could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon about the motion to add 102 more plaintiffs to the lawsuit.